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| No one knows criticism--and fame--like Oscar Wilde |
From the great Oscar Wilde to J.K. Rowling to Stephen King, every
author of every genre had to wade through the muck of rejection and criticism before they
started swimming in success. In his
biography, Stephen King remembered the long carpenters nail he put in his wall
and kept his rejection letters on… until the nail ran out of space. There is an unknowable sinkhole of reasons
why agents, bloggers, publishers, newspapers, magazines or even teachers don’t
like your work. Absorbing critiques, understanding rejection
and pushing the pen onward in spite of (or perhaps because of) it is the
ultimate strength of every writer and of every artist. Unlike critics’ reactions, your own reaction
and how you choose to keep going is solely under your control. The great writers that preceded us took their
own steps to moving forward and the path, though certainly rocky at times, lead
them to resilience, strength and success.
1. 1. Conquering Vomit Reactions
Red pen littering your pristine pages, a 1-star Amazon
review scarring your book or a beloved publisher’s rejection letter induces an
immediate reaction of nausea. Like dealing with a death, after nausea often comes tears or anger and this downward
spiral similarly ends with the death of your work. It’s important to conquer these visceral
reactions before they turn into bargaining (if I only would’ve…) or depression
(Forget it, I’m just no good). Addressing
your feelings with logic and reasoning helps articulate your fears and
frustration into thoughts and concerns you can build on. Powerful emotions about the critique or,
consequently, your own work will block your view of ways to address issues,
understand them and allow yourself to become a stronger writer and a stronger
person.
2. Find Your Roots
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| Even The Giving Tree had a fair share of critics |
Verbal or written attacks against your work can call your
whole writing style into question and make your doubt yourself. Fears are called forth that have nothing to
do with the critique, things like your intelligence (if only I had better
vocabulary!), your creativity (my metaphors are wooden, damn it!), and, worst
of all, your resolve (if I’m not good, I should stop). When your tree is attacked, you have to take
shelter in your roots. That is, what
does writing mean to you? Why did you
start writing? To unleash your
creativity? To discover hidden
news? To inform the world? Ask yourself what it is about writing that
intrinsically lures you; what do you love about it and why do you enjoy
it? When you find your answer (believe
me, it’s there) whether you are good at it or not is irrelevant and therefore
so are any unfavorable reviews.
3. 3. Stand Your Ground
Though it may not feel like it, receiving negative critiques
is a milestone. It means that you have
already surpassed many writers whose work never sees the light of day. Putting your work—and yourself—before
the world, or even just in front of one person, is a brave and daring step that
you should be proud of. You’ve also
finished a piece and given it to another to help you improve it, which many even famous authors like Emily Dickinson and George Bernard Shaw struggled with. Even if your composition needs improvement,
your process is strong and evidenced by the fact that someone has read your
work and took the time to tell you about it. These are accomplishments far
greater than good vocabulary or sentence structure. Acknowledge how far you have come and hold
this ground with tenacity; no one can take it away from you unless you let them.
4. Understand Your Critique
Steadying yourself with logic, motives and progress gives
you the power to appropriately address your critique. First ask if your critique—and your critic—are valid. What is your critic’s point of
contention and is it something you can and should improve on? If your reader is displeased by your themes,
characters, voice, position or something else that reflects your personality or
style, that is merely a clash of opinions.
Another reader might sincerely enjoy what the first dislikes. However, if your critique is addressing your
character development, theme expression, undefined position or something more concrete
like grammar, spelling or plot development, consider it stoically. These elements decide how your story is interpreted
and understood and your critic may have just offered you a valuable service. If they found a hole in your execution and
you fill it, your writing will be stronger and future audiences, as well as
yourself, will enjoy it more.
5. 5. Accept the Challenge
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| Just ask J.K. Rowling |
C.S. Lewis, Dr. Seuss, J.K. Rowling and thousands of others
all heard the words “it won’t sell,” or “people won’t read it,” said about
their work. They certainly rose to the
challenge. The best part about critiques
is that they can be changed and you can improve your work or continue onward to
prove them false. Stop thinking about
your critique like a death sentence and frame it as a challenge. You can
do better—so make a plan to do it. If
your punctuation came under fire, consult another writer, teacher or student to
help you polish your work. If you
over-used a word, get out the thesaurus (or Google synonyms). If you suffered multiple legitimate attacks,
focus on one area to improve and your work will grow by leaps.
6. Empower Yourself
No matter how heated your critic might be about your work,
no writing is without merit. Go back and
reread your work and completely push the negative reaction out of your
mind. What do you enjoy about your
work? What do you think is executed
well? Pick out your favorite paragraph,
lines or even single words that elevate your piece and that you are proud of
producing. Do you love your
characters? Is your voice or style
particularly strong? Do you have
Faulkner-level vocabulary? Are you funny? Take a moment to focus on what you did right
instead of what you did wrong to strengthen your confidence and move forward
with positivity.
7.
7. Positive Affirmation
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| Don't let the doubt in. |
No matter how logical or empowered we may be, some critiques
will always haunt us. Maybe the work
was particularly dear to you or maybe you knew and highly respected the person
who cut you down. For whatever reason,
there are always a few bad reviews that stick and threaten to suck your work
down the spiral of depression, anger and negativity. The resurgence of doubt is psychological and,
like all negativity, can be combated with positive affirmation. When you find yourself doubting, repeat a
positive mantra out loud to reaffirm your strengths. Focus on the things you most enjoy about your
writing and keep it simple. Something
like “I am creative, I am talented, my work is important,” creates an instant
positive pull that interrupts the downward spiral.
As writers, we love what we do and love is a battleground. To keep what we hold most dear, like any good
thing, sometimes we have to fight to believe it. Negative reviews and rejection are not cliffs
we fall off of, they’re walls we climb over to meet the open arms of readers on
the other side. Your confidence, mental
fortitude and self-esteem become your climbing gear and keeping a system handy to
put them to work can help you conquer your obstacles. Keep at it-- you might just be the next 450 million-copy phenomena.
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